Pontiac, MI (June 23, 2015)- The Michigan Bucks announced the Hall of Fame Class of 2015 today to help celebrate the club's unheralded 20 years of success in the Premier Development League (PDL). This year marks the fourth Hall of Fame class inducted since 2003 and combines great players and coaches to represent the twelve member
HOF
. PDL all time leading scorer Kenny Uzoigwe is joined by fellow 2006 PDL championship goal keeper Steve Clark as two of the all time great players to ever wear the Bucks uniform. Current Bucks Director of Coaching Gary Parsons goes into the Hall for his unmatched recruiting and coaching success, while Joe Malachino is the first Bucks player/ coach to be inducted and represents the very first year the Bucks played in
Saginaw
in 1996. The four members will be inducted in a special half time ceremony as part of the team's 20 anniversary celebration at their final regular season home game on Saturday, July 18 at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in
Pontiac
(7:30 PM kick off vs Dayton Dutch Lions).
Uzoigwe was one of the most electric players the PDL has ever seen and finished his eleven year PDL career with 92 goals. The
Ann Arbor
born,
Toledo
raised striker began his career with the Toledo Slayers in 2003 and after three years in
Toledo
, moved to the Bucks where he became a crowd favorite with his flair, speed and electric smile. Uzoigwe led the team to the PDL championship in 2006 and back to the finals in 2007 as the team lost in PK's in
Laredo
,
TX
. In addition to scoring four highlight reel bicycle kick goals over the years for
Michigan
, he also collected six All Conference awards and two PDL Top XI awards as one of the top eleven players in
North America
. Kenny and his wife and kids reside in
Pontiac
, while he continues his soccer career as Director of Player Development for the Michigan Arrows Soccer Club.
Clark was recruited from high school in
Mason
,
MI
to play college soccer for
Oakland
University
by fellow inductee Gary Parsons. While playing for
Oakland
,
Clark
also spent four years as the Bucks starting goal keeper (2006-2009) and made an impact early by back stopping the team to the PDL championship in 2006. After being passed over by Major League Soccer (MLS), the determined Clark ventured off to
Norway
and eventually signed a huge contract to play for Honefoss of the Norway Tippeligaen (top division). After being voted Tippeligaen Goal Keeper of the Year, MLS came to their senses and brought the US National team prospect back to play for the Columbus Crew.
Clark
started every game for the Crew last year and was one of the league's most exciting young keepers.
Malachino was an original Michigan Buck in 1996 while a member of the Detroit Rockers indoor team. Jumpin' Joe as he was affectionately known, played the first two seasons for the Bucks in 1996 and 1997 and moved on to pursue professional opportunities elsewhere. He rejoined the Bucks in 2000 as player/ coach and made history that year. Malachino led the Bucks to their first ever PDL Regular Season Championship and to the team's first ever PDL National Final in 2000. Although the host Bucks lost 1-0 in the title match, Malachino did enough that year to earn PDL Coach of the Year. While many were impressed with his PDL record in 2000, most of the nation learned about Joe Malachino as he led the Bucks into Foxboro Stadium with a young group of college players and walked out as the first amateur team to defeat a MLS team in the history of the US Open Cup. Joe would not stop there; he led the team two weeks later against the Miami Fusion of MLS and scored the game's first goal on one of the nicest free kicks in Open Cup history. The team would end up losing a controversial match that night in a penalty kick shootout, but Joe and his team put the Bucks on the national soccer map as "giant killers." Malachino would return as player coach in 2001 and would lead the team back into Foxboro Stadium for an Open Cup rematch against the Revolution for the second year in a row. Malachino has been the full time assistant women's soccer coach at
Eastern
Michigan
University
for the past seven years. Joe and wife Miriam live in Howell with their three children.
Parsons was slated to be the Mid Michigan Bucks original head coach in 1996 but was eliminated from contention at the last minute when the NCAA confirmed he could not coach both
Oakland
University
and the Bucks at the same time. Parsons worked very closely with Dan and Jim Duggan to help recruit players to the Bucks team ever since. In 2006, Parsons retired from
Oakland
University
after 28 years as the men's soccer coach and took the position of Director of Coaching with the Bucks and has been responsible for the recruitment of players and coaches for the past ten years. The
New Hampshire
native spent several seasons behind the bench as the Bucks head coach and is the only coach in history to win back to back PDL Coach of the Year (2011-2012). Parsons takes pride in being the major architect of the current team that is enjoying the club's longest undefeated streak (17 games) in their 20 year existence.
The four honorees will join the three previous class of inductees at the Bucks 20 Year Reunion Celebration at the team's final regular season home game on Saturday, July 18. The Bucks first class in 2003 included Paul Snape and Tino Scicluna. The next class of 2007 consisted of Steve Burns, Jim Duggan and Benji Djeukeng. The last Hall of Fame class in 2011 featured Kheli Dube, Tim Richey and Dan Fitzgerald.
The Bucks are hoping to gather as many players and their families as possible to attend the weekend's festivities that will include a Friday evening party, Saturday game and half time Induction Ceremony. The Bucks Family will then finish off the weekend in style Saturday night, which hopefully will include a Bucks win over the Dayton Dutch Lions and another Great Lakes Division title that will send them to the PDL Central Conference playoffs the following week.
Tickets for the final home game are $10 Adults and $7 Youth (16 and under). Children 5 and under are always free to Bucks home games. Pre sale tickets for only $6 can be purchased on line at www.buckssoccer.com and clicking on the TICKETS link.
BUCKS HEAD TO
TORONTO
FOR THURSDAY REMATCH
The Bucks will play their only PDL match of the week on Thursday when they travel to
Canada
to take on Toronto FC Academy at the TFC training grounds. The Bucks opened the season with a 2-0 win in May, which was TFC's first ever PDL match. Following the Thursday match, the Bucks will then be off until they head back to Canada on July 1 for a showdown with second place K-W United and then on to play at FC London on July 4th.
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